He Refused the Mark, So I Took the Throne

Chapter 2 Severing the Golden Thread

Pain cut through the mark on my neck. It ran hot and clean beneath my fingers, closing the place the unfinished bond had left open for three years.

Kael screamed. He folded over with one hand clamped to his chest and the other braced in the blood on the altar floor.

The altar made our bond visible. A gold thread stretched from the mark on my neck to Kael's chest. It thinned strand by strand, then broke with the sharp sound of glass giving way. Dark blood ran from the corner of his mouth onto the white stone.

The power I had lent him returned to me. Kael kept the strength he had been born with, but the force that had made him the strongest Alpha in the region was gone.

Above the great iron gates, the seal of the Supreme Council lit up. Defensive runes went dark in sequence, obeying the altar's summons.

No enemy had breached Silver Moon. Covenant law had opened the gates for the tribunal my blood invoked, and the pack's defenses were required to let its officers pass.

Black-armored guards crossed into the clearing in two straight lines. A tall male with dark hair walked at their head. His eyes moved over Kael, Lila, and the kneeling elders before settling on my bleeding hand.

Orion, High Adjudicator of the Supreme Council.

He came straight to the altar. His boots crossed the blood without hurry. He stopped in front of me and removed his cloak before asking a single question.

Then he took off his black, fur-lined cloak and set it around my shoulders.

The cloak was warm and smelled of pine. It covered my cut hand and the ceremonial dress beneath it.

"ELARA, STAY!"

Kael staggered upright and pushed an Alpha command across the clearing. I knew the pressure well. For three years, it had tightened around my bones whenever he wanted obedience.

This time it broke before reaching me. Orion's guards did not blink, and my knees remained straight.

Orion glanced my way, waiting.

I shook my head.

There was nothing to discuss. I left the altar beside Orion without looking back at the robe, the pack, or the male who had promised to mark me.

An armored transport waited beyond the gates. I climbed inside, and Kael called my name until the heavy door closed between us. Only then did I let my cut hand rest in my lap.

(Kael's POV)

The transport disappeared beyond the gates. The empty place where the bond had been hurt with every breath.

I growled after her. How dare she do this to us?

I reduced the severing to punishment for an interrupted ceremony. Once her anger cooled, the Council would take what it wanted from her and cast her out.

Elara had nowhere else to go. She needed my protection, and she had belonged to me since our bond first appeared. I repeated those facts until they covered the panic left by the severing.

I would give her three days. By then, she would come back and ask me to forgive her.